Use of near field communication (nfc) to transfer dvr timers

ABSTRACT

A mobile device running a mobile application accesses a remote content receiver to request the remote content receiver to retrieve a particular recording timer, and upon receiving the recording timer from the remote content receiver, establishes a radio communication link with a second mobile device and transfers the recording timer to the second mobile device over the established radio communication link. The radio communication link is preferably the Near Field Communication (NFC) link.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure generally relates to data transfer between twomobile devices. In particular, the present disclosure is directed to theuse of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to transfer DVR timersand other information associated with program content between mobiledevices.

2. Description of the Related Art

Mobile devices have become increasingly ubiquitous and relied upon forimmediate communication, whether in the form of speech or data transfer.Standards in wireless communication are increasingly data driven tosatisfy subscribers' expectation of more immediate access to data. Theproliferation of smart devices, such as smart phones and tablets, makeit imperative that any data is presentable on demand to the subscriber.

Many broadcast service providers have made it easier for theirsubscribers to access multimedia content from their mobile devices,streaming contents directly to the mobile devices or downloading data ofa selected program content to the mobile device, by providing theirsubscribers with “apps” or a software application module that resides inthe smart devices. Further, these providers also make it possible forthe subscribers to use the same apps to remotely access and controltheir content receivers.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In accordance to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method forsharing a recording timer between two mobile devices is provided. Themethod includes a mobile device receiving, via a user interface, aselection of a recording timer stored in a remote audio/video receiver,and transmitting a request for the recording timer to the remoteaudio/video. The method further includes the audio/video receiverretrieving the stored recording timer and transmitting it to therequesting mobile device. Upon receipt of the recording timer, themobile device establishes a radio communication with another mobiledevice and sends the recording timer to the other mobile device via theestablished radio communication. Preferably, the established radiocommunication is a Near Field Communication.

In accordance to another aspect of the present disclosure, a device forsharing a recording timer is provided; the device includes a firsttransceiving module to transmit and receive communication over a firstcommunication channel, preferably a mobile communication channel. Thedevice also includes a second transceiving module to transmit andreceive communication over a second communication channel. In thepreferred embodiment, the second communication channel is a Near FieldCommunication channel. The device further includes a processing modulethat executes instructions to present a user interface on the device,receive a user input selecting a recording timer stored in a remoteaudio/video receiver, generate a request to receive the recording timer,cause the remote audio/video receiver to retrieve the recording timer,receive the recording timer, establish a radio communication with asecond device via the second communication channel, and send therecording timer to the second device via the established radiocommunication.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary content distribution system in whichcontent and other data can be exchanged between devices in the system.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of an exemplary mobile deviceused in one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates two mobile devices exchanging data over a radiocommunication link.

FIG. 4 illustrates a process flow diagram of a method according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure for transferring recording timersbetween mobile devices.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, certain specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of thedisclosure. However, one skilled in the art will understand that thedisclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In someinstances, well-known interfaces have not been described in detail toavoid obscuring the description of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

Unless the context requires otherwise, throughout the specification andclaims that follow, the word “comprise” and variations thereof, such as“comprises” and “comprising” are to be construed in an open, inclusivesense, that is, as “including, but not limited to.”

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrases “in oneembodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout thisspecification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics maybe combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

In the drawings, identical reference numbers identify similar featuresor elements. The size and relative positions of features in the drawingsare not necessarily drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary content distribution system 10 thatconsists of a plurality of content providers 26, a service provider 16,a content receiver 12, a base station 20, and a mobile device 24 linkedthrough a communication network 18. A display device 14 is coupled tothe content receiver 12 and a cellular antenna 22 coupled to the basestation 20 in FIG. 1. The communication network 18 itself includes wiredand wireless media and their associated nodes. Communication network 18may be a broadcast satellite network, a terrestrial broadcast network,cable network, internet protocol based computer network, telephonynetwork, or a combination thereof.

Service provider 16 is configured to aggregate contents delivered by theplurality of content providers 26 over the communication network 18 andto provide the aggregated contents to at least one subscriber bytransmitting signals to the content receiver 12. Service provider 16 maybe a direct satellite broadcast service provider such as Dish Networkand DirectTV, a direct cable broadcast provider such as Xfinity and TimeWarner, and the like.

The base station 20 and its associated cellular antenna 22 are wellknown in the art and will not be discussed in detail in this disclosure.The base station 20 may be coupled to the communication network 18 via abackhaul using fiber optic or copper network. The cellular antenna 22 isconfigured to communicate with the mobile device 24 over a mobilecommunication network 30 using mobile communication standards such as3G/UMTS, 4G, 4G/LTE and the like. Mobile communication standards arealso well known in the art and will not be discussed in detail in thisdisclosure.

The content receiver 12 is configured to receive transmission signalsand other information from the service provider 16 over thecommunication network 18. The transmission signal contains a pluralityof program contents transmitted as audio, video and data streams. Thecontent receiver 12 is also configured to send data to the serviceprovider 16 over the communication network 18. Preferably, the contentreceiver 12 sends the data to the service provider 16 over an internetprotocol based computer network, but sending the data over a telephonynetwork is also contemplated.

The content receiver 12 is also configured to record the programcontents received in the transmission signals, and to store the programcontents in its storage 32 for subsequent retrieval and viewing. Thestorage 32 may be a hard disk drive, a solid state drive, an opticaldrive, and the like, or a combination thereof. A subscriber has anoption to set up recording timers in the content receiver 12, indicatingthe program content to record and/or the time for recording the programcontent. In a preferred embodiment, the recording timers are stored inthe storage 32. Storing the recording timers in another non-volatilememory location is also contemplated.

The content receiver 12 is further configured to output program contentsignals to the display device 14 for display. The output program contentsignals may be in an analog form or in digital form. In a preferredembodiment, the display device 14 is a television, but other displaydevices capable of presenting the program content to the subscriber arealso contemplated.

In one embodiment, the content receiver 12 is a set top box withrecording functionality that receives satellite transmissions via anantenna from a direct satellite broadcast service provider. The contentreceiver 12 may also be embodied in a presentation device, such as atelevision with an integrated tuner, or an IPTV receiver. In thisdisclosure, the content receiver 12 may be referred to as an audio/videoreceiver, a Digital Video Recorder (DVR), a television receiver, or areceiver.

A subscriber may control his content receiver 12 with a remote control.The subscriber may set one or more recording timers to record programcontents that they want to watch later.

The mobile device 24 may be a cellular phone, a tablet, a portablecomputer, a multimedia player, and the like. Preferably, the mobiledevice 24 is a Smartphone. A Smartphone is a cellular phone with amobile operating system that provides the Smartphone with more advancedcomputing capability than a standard cellular phone, also called“feature phone.” A Smartphone combines the function of a cellular phonewith at least a GPS, digital camera, and web browsers. With the mobileoperating system and its APIs, a Smartphone can install and runapplications, or “mobile apps.”

The service provider 16 may provide one or more mobile apps to itssubscribers to enable the subscribers to access to the services itprovides via the subscribers' mobile devices 24. In a preferredembodiment, the service provider 16 provides the subscriber with amobile app that allows the subscriber to access and control the contentreceiver 12, and to access and control his account; the subscriber canview an Electronic Program Guide, set up a recording timer for thecontent receiver 12, view or delete a recorded program content in thecontent receiver 12, check his account status, make a payment, changeservices, and so on. The mobile device 24 may have stored therein someor all of the recording timers currently stored at the content receiver12, which is a set top box in one embodiment. Alternatively, the contentreceiver 12 may permit the mobile device 24 to access and downloadrecording timers currently stored at the content receiver 12 via themobile app 16 as described herein.

The subscriber preferably interacts with the mobile app throughgraphical user interfaces. The subscriber may enter his input throughkeypads, a gesture pad, a touchscreen, or by talking into a microphone.The term subscriber in this disclosure refers to a subscriber of theservice provider 16. Generally, to use the mobile app, as well as to usethe mobile device 24 to communicate over the mobile communicationnetwork 30, the subscriber also has to subscribe to, or pay for, themobile services provided by a mobile network service provider. Examplesof a mobile network service provider are AT&T Wireless, Sprint, VerizonWireless, T-mobile and the like.

In one embodiment, when a subscriber accesses the content receiver 12via the mobile app on the mobile device 24, the subscriber's commandsare transmitted over the mobile communication network 30 and received bythe cellular antenna 22 at the base station 20. The base station 20sends the commands to the content receiver 12 via the communicationnetwork 18. The commands may be routed to the service provider 16 beforethey are sent to the content receiver 12, or the commands may be sent toboth the service provider 16 and the content receiver 12. The mobiledevice 24 may also have the capability to access the communicationnetwork 18 directly, thus the subscriber's commands are sent to thecontent receiver 12 through the communication network 18 only, bypassingthe mobile communication network 30, the cellular antenna 22 and thebase station 20.

The mobile device 24 may receive program content and other data from theservice provider 16, from the content receiver 12, or from both, via thecommunication network 18.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of an exemplary mobile device 24 thatincludes a first transceiving module 36, a memory module 38, aprocessing module 42, a second radio transceiving module 44, and aninput/output interface module 40. The mobile device 24 may include moremodules than illustrated in FIG. 2. In a preferred embodiment, the firsttransceiving module 36 is configured to communicate with the basestation 20 over the mobile communication network 30, the communicationincluding exchanges of voice and data. In the preferred embodiment, thefirst transceiving module 36 includes transceivers and antennacompatible with at least one of the mobile communication standardspreviously discussed.

In the preferred embodiment, the processing module 42, coupled to thefirst transceiving module 36, is configured to process the communicationreceived from the base station 20 and to configure the communication tobe transmitted to the base station 20. The processing module 42 is alsoconfigured to run the mobile operating system and any mobile applicationinstalled in the mobile device 24.

The processing module 42 in FIG. 2 is also coupled to the input/outputinterface module 40 configured to receive and process an input from thesubscriber. The input from the subscriber may be received via an entryon a keypad, touchscreen, gesture pad, or a microphone. It is alsocontemplated that the input/output interface module 40 also controls ahaptic feedback output.

The memory module 38 is configured to store instructions to be executedby the processing module 42 such as instructions for the mobileoperating system and any installed mobile applications. The memorymodule 38 includes at least a non-volatile memory device, such as Flash,SRAM or the like, and a volatile memory device such as DRAM and thelike. The memory module 38 in FIG. 2 contains at least a mobile app 46in its non-volatile device, the mobile app 46 configured to enable thesubscriber to access his content receiver 12.

In FIG. 2, the second radio transceiving module 44 is coupled to theprocessing module 42 and is configured to establish a radiocommunication link directly with another device. The mobile device 24 ispreferably establishing the radio communication link directly withanother mobile device. Other mobile devices with which the mobile device24 may establish the direct communication link have modules similar tothose shown in FIG. 2; each of the other mobile devices having two ormore transceiver modules and the capability to communicate over theestablished radio communication link. In a preferred embodiment, thesecond radio transceiving module 44 includes a Near Field Communication(NFC) transceiver. NFC is a well-known technology and will not bediscussed in detail in this disclosure.

In an alternate embodiment, the mobile device 24 also includes a thirdtransceiving module (not shown) configured for communication over analternate radio frequency link, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee and thelike.

FIG. 3 shows the mobile device 24 establishing a radio communicationlink 34 with another mobile device 24 a that has similar functionalmodules as mobile device 24. A communication link 34 can be establishedbetween the mobile devices so that mobile device 24 can exchange datawith the other mobile device 24 a. The radio communication link 34 maybe a communication link that uses a standard radio frequency protocol,such as NFC, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi, and the like. As previouslydiscussed, NFC is preferred for the radio communication link 34. Themobile device 24 uses the NFC data exchange format to send a recordingtimer for a program content to the other mobile device 24 a as explainedin more detail later herein.

In another embodiment, the mobile device 24 is configured to use a firsttype of communication protocol to enable, pair, and establish a firstradio communication link with the other mobile device 24 a, andsubsequent data exchanges are carried out over a second radiocommunication link using a second communication protocols different fromthe first type. For example, Bluetooth is used to locate and pair themobile device 24 with the other mobile device 24 a to both operate incommunication with each other, and subsequent data transfers between themobile device 24 and the other mobile device 24 a use NFC protocol.

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a process for exchanging dataassociated with content receiver 12, such as a recording timer, betweenmobile devices. A subscriber with a content receiver 12 has access tomany different types of program contents on hundreds of channels. In oneembodiment, the content receiver 12 is a set top box which is connectedto a service provider such as a cable service provider, broadcastsatellite service provider and the like that provides a large number ofprogram contents from a number of content providers such as HBO andShowtime. The service provider may also offer a number of footballchannels as part of an NFL network, several college football channels, anumber of specialty sport channels, as well as movie channels and thelike. Subscribers regularly record their favorite TV shows. For example,some subscribers record all episodes of CSI, NCIS, or otherinvestigative mystery TV program contents. Such episodes may bepresented once a week, or in some cases, with reruns, may be presentedonce a day. Other subscribers may create recording timers to recordother types of program contents, such as all college football gamesplayed by their alma mater, for example the Washington Huskies, or allmovies starring Leonardo DiCaprio. At home, the subscriber uses hisremote control to create various recording timers in the contentreceivers 12 so that the content receiver 12 is set to record theprogram contents that they wish to watch. Once created, the recordingtimers are stored in the content receiver 12 and can be subsequentlyretrieved, viewed on a display device, edited or modified.

Good friends frequently discuss various TV shows, movies, or otherentertainment of interest with each other. For example, it is quitecommon for friends to discuss episodes of HBO's Game of Thrones, thenext week's possible developments on True Blood or the previous Huskiesfootball game when they meet at the office, in a carpool, or at thewater cooler. One of the people in the discussion, Subscriber 1, may berecording one or all of the program contents being discussed: she haspreviously created recording timers for her content receiver to recordall episodes of Game of Thrones, True Blood, and/or all Huskies footballgames. Another person in the discussion, Subscriber 2, however, whilebeing a fan of the Huskies, is not sure how to find all of footballgames played by the Huskies in his own content receiver or digital videorecorder (DVR) or how to create a recording timer in his contentreceiver or DVR to record all of the Huskies football games. Accordingto principles of the embodiments discussed herein, the transfer of suchrecording timer can be done quickly and easily. Subscriber 1, who hascreated a recording timer in her content receiver to record all of theHuskies football games, can quickly, and easily, transfer that recordingtimer to Subscriber 2 so that Subscriber 2 can use that recording timerin his own content receiver. Subscriber 2's content receiver will thenstart recording the Huskies football games according to the recordingtimer. This can be done without Subscriber 2 having to create a newrecording timer himself: Subscriber 2 does not have to personally searchfor the Huskies football games series in the program guide, or uses hisremote control to program his content receiver step-by-step to recordthose football games. Creating recording timer may be very difficult forsome subscribers to do.

Accordingly, a first subscriber who has a number of recording timers onher set top box offers to provide one or more of these recording timersto a second subscriber. The first subscriber takes her mobile device 24and puts it adjacent to another mobile device 24 a that belongs to thesecond subscriber who wishes to receive one or more of the recordingtimers which the first subscriber has previously set up. With simplyinvoking at least one mobile app and enabling the transfer, the firstsubscriber is able to transfer a selected recording timer, such as arecording timer for all of University of Washington Huskies footballgames, to the second subscriber on his mobile device. The other mobiledevice 24 a will thereafter transfer the received recording timer to thesecond subscriber's content receiver at his home. The recording timermay be transferred through the base station 20 and the communicationsnetwork 18. The first subscriber and the second subscriber may besubscribers of the same service provider or of different serviceproviders. Various techniques by which this can be accomplished will nowbe described.

In one embodiment, the sequence of the process starts with a subscriberinvoking the mobile app 46 on his mobile device 24, bringing up a userinterface on the mobile device 24 in step 50. A particular recordingtimer is selected in step 52 and a request to have one or more recordingtimers currently stored in content receiver 12 transmitted to the mobiledevice 24 is generated. The mobile device 24 transmits this request tothe content receiver 12 in step 54. The mobile device 24 may use themobile communication network 30, the communication network 18, or acombination thereof to transmit the request to the content receiver 12.Upon receiving the request, the content receiver 12 retrieves therecording timer in step 56 stored in its storage 32 and sends it to therequesting mobile device 24 via the communication network 18. In oneembodiment, the request is sent from the mobile device 24 to the contentreceiver 12 by way of the service provider 16, and the recording timeris sent from the content receiver 12 to the mobile device 24 by way ofthe service provider 16.

In some embodiments, the mobile device 24 may be configured toperiodically download and store a recording timer list from the contentreceiver 12. The mobile device 24 may also synchronize its recordingtimer list that enumerates a plurality of recording timers stored in itsstorage location, with the content receiver 12. The mobile device 24 maydownload and/or synchronize the recording timer list and the pluralityof recording timers in its storage location when the mobile device 24 iswithin a wireless range of the content receiver 12. In theseembodiments, the mobile device 24 may transmit a recording timer alreadystored in its storage location to another mobile device without firstcontacting a content receiver 12.

In some other embodiments, a content receiver 12 may be configured toperiodically transmit its recording timer list to the service provider16. Thus, a mobile device 24 may alternatively query the serviceprovider's server to obtain a recording timer, rather than the contentreceiver 12 as described in step 54 above.

In an alternative embodiment, the mobile device 24 requests therecording timers to be sent via the communications network 18 which islinked directly to the content receiver 12, and the mobile device 24receives the recording timers from the content receiver 12 withoutinteracting through the service provider 16. In yet another alternativeembodiment, the mobile device 24 may be within a local network range ofthe content receiver 12. Specifically, the content receiver 12 may beable to communicate with a mobile device 24 via a short-rangecommunication link such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, ZigBee and the like.The mobile device 24 therefore communicates directly with the contentreceiver 12 via the short-range communication link in the local networkwithout using any other network and receives the recording timers viathis short-range communication link.

Upon receiving the recording timer in step 58, a radio communicationlink 34 is established between the mobile device 24 and the other mobiledevice 24 a in step 60, and the recording timer is transferred from themobile device 24 to the other mobile device 24 a in step 62. In oneembodiment, Near Field Communication is the radio communication protocolutilized for establishing the radio communication link 34, althoughother radio communication protocols, such as Bluetooth, ZigBee and thelike are also contemplated. While the operations in FIG. 4 are depictedas being executed in a particular order, other orders of execution oftwo or more operations may be possible.

Upon being received by the other mobile device 24 a, the recording timermay be locally stored, or saved into the memory of the other mobiledevice 24 a. The mobile device 24 a can then send the recording timer toanother content receiver, a client device, or digital video recorder forstorage and subsequent use to select and record the program contentdesignated in the recording timer.

In another embodiment, the subscriber can use the mobile app 46 on themobile device 24 to create new recording timers using the mobile app'suser interface. Once created, a new recording timer may be storedlocally in the mobile device 24 and/or immediately sent to and stored inthe content receiver 12 so that the content receiver 12 can timelyrecord any program content indicated in the new recording timer. Thelocally stored new recording timer may further be transferred to theother mobile device 24 a upon the establishment of the radiocommunication link 34.

The mobile device 24 receives at least two types of data via the basestation 20 and the communications network 18. A first data type may berepresented by the actual program content. This will usually be in theform of a streaming video of live or previously recorded program contentor other data provided for watching the program content. A second datatype, which may be quite different in format and size from the firstdata type, may be represented by a recording timer that is usuallycreated and stored in the content receiver at the subscriber's home. Arecording timer may be in a form of data file that describes the programcontent or contents to be recorded and the scheduled recording times.

A recording timer may also include instructions for a content receiverto search for and record selected program contents when they areprovided through the communication network 18 to the content receiver12. The recording timer may be in a form of a select-and-command typefile, and may further include search functions to search for differentkinds of program contents, look at the their metadata, and then issuecommands to store the selected program contents in the storage device 32associated with the content receiver 12. The second data type may be anexecutable file that can issue commands to the communication network,the content receiver 12 or, in some cases, to the service provider 16.The second data type may also include an ability to examine differenttypes of data stored in the content receiver 12 and make heuristicdecisions based on the examined data to identify future program contentsand the commands to record or not record the identified programcontents.

The various embodiments described above can be combined to providefurther embodiments. All of the U.S. patents, U.S. patent applicationpublications, U.S. patent application, foreign patents, foreign patentapplication and non-patent publications referred to in thisspecification and/or listed in the Application Data Sheet areincorporated herein by reference, in their entirety. Aspects of theembodiments can be modified, if necessary to employ concepts of thevarious patents, application and publications to provide yet furtherembodiments.

These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of theabove-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, theterms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specificembodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should beconstrued to include all possible embodiments along with the full scopeof equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, theclaims are not limited by the disclosure.

1. A method comprising: presenting a user interface on a display of afirst mobile device; receiving a selection of a first data via the userinterface, the first data being a recording timer of a particularprogram content at a remote audio/video receiver; retrieving the firstdata; establishing a radio communication link between the first mobiledevice and a second mobile device; and sending the first data from thefirst mobile device to the second mobile device via the establishedradio communication link.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1 whereinthe radio communication link is a Near Field Communication.
 3. Themethod as claimed in claim 1 wherein retrieving the first data furthercomprises: transmitting a request to receive the first data via acommunication network to the remote audio/video receiver; retrieving thefirst data from a memory location in the remote audio/video receiver;transmitting the first data from the remote audio/video receiver to thefirst mobile device via the communication network; and receiving thefirst data at the first mobile device.
 4. The method as claimed in claim3 wherein transmitting the request comprises transmitting the request toa broadcast service center configured to forward the request to theremote audio/video receiver.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 1 whereinretrieving the first data further comprises: identifying the first datain a list of recording timers stored in a storage location of the firstmobile device; and retrieve the first data from the storage location. 6.The method as claimed in claim 5 further comprising downloading the listof recording timers from the remote audio/video receiver; and storingthe list of recording timers in the storage location of the first mobiledevice.
 7. The method as claimed in claim 3 wherein the communicationnetwork is one of a cellular network and an Internet Protocol basedcomputer network.
 8. The method as claimed in claim 1 whereinestablishing the radio communication link comprises: pairing the firstmobile device with the second mobile device via a Near FieldCommunication protocol.
 9. The method as claimed in claim 8 wherein thefirst mobile device sends the first data to the second mobile deviceusing one of a Bluetooth communication protocol and a Wi-Ficommunication protocol.
 10. A first device comprising: a firsttransceiving module configured to transmit and receive communicationover a first communication channel; a non-volatile memory moduleconfigured to store instructions and data associated with execution ofthe instructions; a processing module configured to, present a userinterface on the first device; receive a first user input selecting afirst data via the user interface, the first data being a recordingtimer of a particular program content, the recording timer beingassociated with a remote audio/video receiver; generate a request toreceive the first data over a first communication network, the requestbeing for transmission via the first communication channel to theaudio/video receiver; cause the audio/video receiver to retrieve thefirst data from a memory location in the audio/video receiver; receivethe first data from the audio/video receiver via the first communicationchannel; establish a radio communication link between the first deviceand a second device; and send the first data from the first device tothe second device via the established radio communication link.
 11. Thefirst device as claimed in claim 10, further comprising: a secondtransceiving module configured to transmit and receive a communicationvia a second communication channel, wherein the first communicationchannel is a channel in an internet protocol based computer network, andwherein the second communication channel is a channel in a cellularnetwork.
 12. The first device as claimed in claim 10 wherein the firstcommunication channel comprises a cellular network.
 13. The first deviceas claimed in claim 10 wherein the processing module is furtherconfigured to receive a second data from the second device, the seconddata being information associated with a second program content, createa request to store the second data in the audio/video receiver, therequest for transmission via the first communication network, causes theaudio/video receiver to store the second data in the memory location,and causes the audio/video receiver to record the second program contentbased on the second data when the second program content becomesavailable.
 14. The first device as claimed in claim 13 wherein theprocessing module is further configured to cause a broadcast serviceprovider to identify a content provider capable of providing the secondprogram content if the second program content is not scheduled forbroadcast to the audio/video receiver, and cause the broadcast serviceprovider, upon identifying the content provider, to inform theaudio/video receiver of the availability of the second program contentfrom the content provider.
 15. A system comprising: an audio/videoreceiver including: a receiving module configured to receive a pluralityof program contents via a first communication network, a storage module,a processing module configured to create a recording timer to record atleast one program content in the storage module, and upon receiving arequest for the recording timer, retrieve the recording timer, atransmit module configured to send the recording timer via a secondcommunication network; a broadcast service center communicativelycoupled to the audio/video receiver via the first communication networkand via the second communication network, the broadcast service centerincluding a processing module configured to send the plurality ofprogram contents to the audio/video receiver; and a first mobile deviceincluding a processing module configured to present a user interface onthe first mobile device, receive a first user input selecting a firstdata via the user interface, the first data being a recording timer of aparticular program content, the recording timer being associated withthe audio/video receiver, generate a request to receive the first datafrom the audio/video receiver, receive the requested first data from theaudio/video receiver, establish a radio communication link between thefirst mobile device and a second mobile device, and send the first datato the second mobile device.
 16. The system as claimed in claim 15wherein the first mobile device further includes a first transceivingmodule configured to transmit and receive data via the secondcommunication network, wherein the request to receive the first data issent via the second communication network to the audio/video receiver.17. The system as claimed in claim 15, further comprising: a basestation communicatively coupled to the broadcast service center and tothe audio/video receiver via the second communication network, the basestation being communicatively coupled to the first mobile device via athird communication network, wherein the first mobile device furtherincludes a second transceiving module configured to establishcommunication via the third communication network, and wherein therequest to receive the first data is sent to the audio/video receivervia the third communication network.
 18. The system as claimed in claim15 wherein the first communication network is a broadcast satellitecommunication network, and wherein the second communication network isan internet protocol based computer network.
 19. The system as claimedin claim 15 wherein the radio communication link is a Near FieldCommunication link, and wherein the first mobile device sends the firstdata to the second mobile device as an NFC Data Exchange Format message.20. The system as claimed in claim 15 wherein the first mobile devicepairs with the second mobile device using a first radio frequencycommunication protocol, and wherein the first mobile device sends thefirst data to the second mobile device using a second radio frequencycommunication.